November 25, 2013

Not Cooking!

I haven't cooked Thanksgiving Dinner in a long time. And that's perfectly fine by me. I host a big Christmas Dinner every year so I have no desire to also host Thanksgiving just a few weeks before. I do bake and bring a dish to whoever ends up hosting and I will help the hostess, but the mess isn't at my house. That's the important part!

One thing we do every year after Thanksgiving dinner is our family Pollyanna between the adults. It's much easier (and cheaper) to only buy one gift. Plus, we offer some gift suggestions too. We like to give gifts that we want and need.

About two years ago when my kids started getting older and buying presents at Christmas became more challenging (and more expensive), we started going by the "something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read" adage. And it's been very helpful to get them to really think about gifts they'd like to receive but it has also helped me keep the spending under control. It's a win-win all around.

I've asked them a few times to start thinking of a few Christmas gift ideas (because I'm stumped this year!) and because it's only a matter of time before family starts asking me what to buy them too! So I created this cute Dear Santa list to help keep them on track and to get the ideas written down so I don't forget.